Trip Down Memory Lane
by Evil Icing
Summary: Because every family starts somewhere. A collection of childhood memory drabbles- Trent and Jane-centric.
1. Introduction

**Disclaimer: I don't own Daria, Jane, Trent, anything really. I own my fingers, this laptop, and my account. That's about it. **

**I've always really wanted to do a collection of random short writings about Jane and Trent as youngsters, so I think this is finally it! Hope you enjoy! If anyone has any awesome sibling stories/ideas to share, or even any sibling situation you would love to see Trent and Jane in for future chapters, I am definitely open for suggestions and comments, as I am an only child. That makes this so much more challenging! Also, you're more than welcome to use your own imagination for deciding what Trent and Jane may have looked like as kids...it's actually pretty funny to think about, right?**

* * *

Jane leaned her head against the shaky car window. It was a tortuous drive that had seemed to last forever, and even more strangely, Trent was unusually talkative today. What was he going on about again…?

"Janey, remember that one time when you were really little and you found Wind's stash of dirty magazines…?"

Quickly snapping back into reality, Jane squeaked out a "_wha_?"

"Yeah," Trent continued lightheartedly, "you even carried it around all day, showing it to everyone in the whole house. I'll never forget that."

Oh. That's right. For some odd reason, Jane found herself victim to a reminiscing older brother, stuck on a road trip to—make things worse—the dreaded yearly family reunion. And every year they just got _worse._

Trent let out a slight chuckle. "Oh, and there was that one time you were sleepwalking… you thought you were in the bathroom, but you were really in my room, and you thought my bed was the toilet…"

Any point in trying to ignore the conversation was lost on her now. Her dignity was at stake. Jane's eyes widened in surprise as she fought back the urge to strangle him. She settled, instead, for just a significant "I'm going to kill you and leave your body with our distant relatives" glance towards his direction.

"Oh, Trent, that reminds me… do you remember that time when I scrubbed the toilet with your favorite toothbrush?" she asked, a victorious smile forming.

Trent's eyebrows rose as he quickly looked to her. "…what?"

She examined her fingers, innocently picking at a hangnail. There was also that stubborn paint stain from yesterday. "I said your chin hair looks nice today."

They exchanged glances.

"Keep your eyes on the road, bro. So, why exactly do these childhood memories of yours all stem from _my_ humiliation and debasement?"

He looked away from her. "Janey, don't be embarrassed. We were kids. We did stupid things."

"And, surprisingly, some of us still do," Jane added, maybe a bit too confident. "_Oh_! I got one for ya, Trent. How about that one time I dressed you up in one of Penny's dresses?"

"Hmm," he calmly breathed, and Jane noted that he maybe looked a little pale. "That…might have happened."

Trent, in reality, remembered it clearly, although he admitted that it wasn't one of his fonder memories. It wasn't easy basically raising your kid sister; Jane was definitely a handful back then...

* * *

_A tiny Janey tugged at his collar to bring him lower. "Lean over some more!" she demanded. Trent felt tiny fingers all over his face. _

_"Ouch," he flinched. "Don't be so rough, Janey…"_

_"Well if you stop _moving_…you promised you'd let me put make-up on you!"_

_Trent rolled his eyes. "I know, just try and hurry, okay?"_

_Jane let go of his face for a minute, still on her tiptoes trying to reach her brother hunkered down on the chair. Trent saw her fingers were covered in lots of colors and residue of a strange powder was smeared on her milky skin. She wiped them on her dirty overalls as her eyes wandered over him. Her messy pigtails bounced as she began to giggle. _

_"Why… are you laughing? Is it that funny?" Trent asked meekly, positive that he was burning red with embarrassment. _

_"Nope, you look pretty," she answered truthfully. She reached for his hand. "Come on, now you have to put on something else."_

_She led him to her small closet, grabbing a strange black fabric and shoving it at him. "Here, put this on."_

_Trent frowned as he examined the thing. It was a dress… of some sort. It was a small black dress with thin straps. "Janey, where did you get this?"_

_She bit her lip. "I… found it in Penny's room… just put it on, big brother!"_

_Before Trent knew it, he was being forced to shove the dress over his head and Jane's pulling and tugging only made it worse. He looked down at himself with the bitter realization that this dress probably wasn't meant to fit comfortably on an eleven-year-old boy. _

_"Ok, Janey, are you happy now? Please let me see what you've done so I can take all this off."_

_She giggled with a nod of approval, obviously proud of her work. She followed him down the hall as he stepped into the bathroom. One look into the mirror was enough for him._

_He sighed. "I… can't believe I let you talk me into this."_

_Poking out from all directions of his dark hair were tiny little elastics barely holding his short hair in random pony-tails. Although he felt that Janey did well for her age, her make-up job made him look more like a clown than a girl. Many bright colors were smeared over his eyelids, and his lips were stained with a crooked layer of bright red lipstick. The little black dress looked as awkward as it felt, especially paired with his boyish, lanky legs._

_He couldn't help but stifle a laugh at himself. The little girl next to him busted out laughing, too… after all, it didn't take much to make her happy. As long as she was torturing her big brother, anyways._

_"You make a real pretty girl, Trent," she squeaked with more giggles. _

_"If you say so, sis," he said, scratching at the itchy elastics on his scalp. "I've gotta get all this stuff off me, it itches."_

_"Okaaay," Jane answered sadly with a little pout._

_"Let's go back to your room and you can scrub all this make-up off since _you_ put it on."_

_He reached up to pull an elastic band out of his hair as he stepped into the hallway; he barely took two steps before he realized that Penny was in the hallway, too._

_"Um… Trent? What the hell are you doing?"_

_Wait. Not just Penny. Penny and two of her friends… Trent went red; he had always had a crush on that one pretty friend of Penny's. And she was standing right there, staring at him in confusion, as he was dressed like a… girl. _

_Luckily, Jane came along to save the day… or maybe make things worse. Trent didn't think things could possibly even get any worse at this point. _

_She smiled as she clasped onto his leg excitedly. "I helped Trent look pretty. Do you like it, Penny?"_

_Penny and her teenage friends looked at each other, obviously more amused than sympathetic. The cackles didn't help. "That's pretty cute, Jane. Not bad. I always thought Trent would make a good sister. Hey, is that my old dress…?"_

_Trent quickly flew past them, making a sharp turn into Jane's room. He ripped the dress off as quickly as he could, wiping off the make-up with the back of his hands. _

_The door shot open, and thankfully it was only Jane, a nonchalant poise about her as she casually walked to him; naturally, she had no idea how she had just ruined her brother's life._

_"You're making it worse, you're smearing it everywhere," she scolded._

_"I'm trying to get this crap off me!" Trent shouted, continuing to remove the stubborn make-up. "I can't believe they all saw me!"_

_"They loved it, big brother! Can we do this again sometime…?"_

_ "_NO_!"_

* * *

"Those were the days, huh, Trent?" Jane said with a smirk. "I don't think I ever remember you being so embarrassed."

Trent coughed. "Well, I'm glad it made you so happy."

"Now you see how it feels, don'tcha, Mr. Memory Lane?"

They looked at each other again, chuckling at each other's expense. Jane looked back out the window. Perhaps this wasn't such a horrible road trip after all…

"Alright, now it's my turn again. Time for another embarrassing Janey story."


	2. Connecting the Dots

_Trent looked at himself in the mirror as he tried on some new clothes. His dark hair was short, but wild, and he decided that maybe he looked a little like his dad. Would Grandma Lane like that…?_

_It had been a while since she decided to grace Casa Lane with her presence, but today she was finally coming in for a family visit. He sighed. Grandma Lane was the exact opposite of his parents: strict, disciplinary, always in a mood (did his parents even have moods?)… And she had never been too fond of him. Or even the baby of the family, Jane, for that matter. The only thing Grandma Lane had in common with his mom and dad was that she didn't come around often: the silver lining._

_Trent frowned. Why was he trying so hard to look good for her? Maybe he could just avoid her for the duration of her stay…besides, this was _his_ house, not hers. He plopped down on his bed, ignoring his messy hair, and reached for his guitar. The family had gotten it for his birthday; it was nothing more than a cheap kid's guitar, and Trent knew this, but for some reason, he didn't mind. It was his favorite and maybe one day he'd get good enough to get a better one if he could talk his parents into it._

_As he released an unpleasant, out-of-tune strum, he heard a shy tap at his door. _Please don't be Grandma Lane_, he thought inwardly as he stopped strumming the guitar._

_"Yeah…?" he asked slowly._

_"Big brother?"_

_He was only a big brother to one person in the whole world._

_"Janey? You can come in."_

_The door slightly cracked open a little. "I need you to help me…"_

_Trent smiled a little at the thought. He loved helping take care of his little sister, and she _always_ needed some kind of help. "Well, what is it?"_

_As a tiny, black-marked hand snaked around the door, Trent's eyes widened. His fingers slipped as a guitar string broke. "Uh… Janey?"_

_She walked in confidently, not to be confused with the shy girl behind the door—as confidently as one covered with, what appeared to be head-to-toe, many dark lines connecting to each tiny red bump on her skin could be._

_"I think I got them all," she proudly announced, a permanent marker in hand. "Even the ones on my butt! But I can't reach this one on my back…can you help me, big brother?"_

_Trent only stared at his little sister, not quite sure what to make of this. "You're not supposed to touch the red dots, remember, Janey? You're gonna make them itch more…"_

_"I was bored!" she huffed, sitting beside him on the bed. "Nobody will come play with me ever since I got these… I hate these chicken pox things! I was only trying to make them fun. I look like a consultation of stars!"_

_"That's 'constellation,'" he corrected._

_The black marks on her face shifted as she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest._

_Trent smiled at her. "I'm sorry I haven't played with you in a while… it's because you're supposed to be resting to make the dots go away."_

_The little girl only gave him a side-glance as he reached for her marker. She had gotten good at this pouting thing. That was when he remembered…_

_"Oh no! Grandma Lane will be here soon… I forgot!"_

_He ripped the black marker from out of her grip, picking her up suddenly. "Janey, get in the bath now! We gotta get these marks off you!"_

_"But Trent—I like them!"_

_"Well, I don't think Grandma Lane _will_…"_

_Thirty minutes of scrubbing had helped remove the blackest black of the dark lines, but many more-than-faint dull black marks still remained._

_"Trent, it _really_ itches now… keep scrubbing them!"_

_"What's going on in here?" Penny's voice was heard behind the bathroom door. She peeked her head in._

_Jane waved to her big sister as Trent let out a sigh. "Janey connected all her chicken pox dots with a marker… we can't get them off. Can you help, Penny…?"_

_"Ew!" she grimaced. "I'm not touching that chicken pox! Try putting some rubbing alcohol on it…it should take the black off."_

_Trent continued working on one of Jane's arms, which was becoming progressively more difficult. Jane was getting fussy and bored, and this only made her scratch the red dots more._

_"Will you get it for me?" he pleaded to Penny. He saw her roll her eyes in the mirror as she walked in, rummaging through the cabinet._

_"Don't stop itching it!" Jane commanded desperately._

_"Jane, be still."_

_"Trent, you do realize Grandma Lane will be here soon," Penny said darkly._

_"I know that, that's why I'm trying to get these stupid marks off," he quipped back. "I said stop moving, Janey."_

_"Is Grandma Lane going to be afraid to touch me, too?" Jane asked. The combination of her scratching and Trent's scrubbing had made her skin a reddish-pink now. She thought it looked kinda pretty with the black marks. Maybe she could try a red marker next time._

_"You better hope so," Penny answered, tossing the much sought after bottle of alcohol to her drenched brother. "Good luck."_

_"Penny, wait—"_

_She had already walked out before he could even ask her what to do._

_He glared at the door for a minute before focusing his attention back on Jane. "Well, let's hope this works, sis."_

_Her smile turned grim as he rubbed an alcohol-soaked cloth to her arm. "Owwwwww! Trent, it _burns_!"_

_Much to Trent's happiness, the black marks were looking a bit better, but Jane couldn't share his triumph._

_"Stop, stop!" she cried, tears burning the red dots littering her tiny face. "It hurts!"_

_"I'm sorry, Janey…but it's getting the black stuff off," Trent tried to calm her. Whenever he spoke, she howled louder._

_"I hate you!" she shouted, splashing a wave of water his way as she climbed out of the tub, sprinting out of sight._

_"Jane, wai—" Trent started as he stood to chase her. He succeeded only in slipping in a puddle left in her wake._

_It didn't take long for him to put two-and-two together when he heard a woman's scream and more running; no doubt the soaking-wet, black-marked little Jane had scarred his grandmother for life._

* * *

"Trent, isn't this kind of a bad memory for you too, considering that _you_ got chicken pox after that?" Jane pondered with a glare.

Trent studied the steering wheel. "Uhhh… I guess you're right." He thought for a minute. "But it was still funny."

"Yeah, I'm in hysterics over here."

"Wait, I'm not even done with the story yet. There's more… I was about to get to the part where you were showing Grandma Lane the dots you connected on your ass."

"Quite the little artist I was, eh? Well, as exciting as this story has been, I think I'm going to pass on the happy ending and just settle for a nap…hopefully a permanent one." Jane grabbed a nearby old newspaper and placed it lazily over her face.

"But Janey—"

"Trent, don't make me break out the obnoxious fake snoring."

He smirked a little, raising an eyebrow at his little sister. "Yeah, I doubt you could top that story, anyways."


End file.
